IGA worker allegedly stabbed by shoplifters
Two people have been charged with the stabbing of an IGA worker in Sydney’s north west.
Emergency services, including police and ambulance, were called to Riverstone IGA at about 4.15pm on Sunday, where they found a 47-year-old man, believed to be the store manager, suffering stab wounds to his side and chest.
The man was assessed and treated by paramedics on site, and taken to Westmead Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
He remains in a stable condition.
Police will allege the retail worker was stabbed while trying to apprehend two people suspected of shoplifting, with a second employee also punched in the face during the altercation.
A 31-year-old Fairfield East man and 21-year-old Wetherill Park woman have been arrested, and were refused bail to appear in Blacktown Local Court on Monday.
The pair were taken to Riverstone Police Station where the man was charged with wounding a person with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, while the woman was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and larceny.
The incident comes after the NSW state government implemented a raft of tougher punishments on people who assault retail workers.
In laws passed in June last year, causing grievous bodily harm to a retail worker in the course of their duty, or being reckless as to causing actual bodily harm to the worker or another person now carries a maximum penalty of 11 years jail.